The Trump Phenomena Will Persist

Many hope that Trump will lose the election and disappear from the national stage. Good riddance.

Good luck.
He will not.

He will not be like any other candidate that lost the election and removed himself from the scene like McCain, Romney, Gore, and all others in the same situation. Not Trump.

He knows the business value of a brand. And in his case, a brand is not necessarily built with good reputation. It can be with a bad reputation as well. It is name recognition that builds his brand. And that counts for a lot. A lot of money.

He turns failures around to sound like success. His companies went bankrupt more than once; instead of admitting defeat he boasts about how much money he made out of bankruptcy. He lost millions owning the Plaza Hotel in New York. He claims it was a runaway success.

Is the guy for real?
Yes, he is.
He believes in his own legend.

Trump's style is familiar to me, the narcissistic, self-glorifying style. They cannot be wrong. They are seldom right, but never in doubt.

After losing the election, Trump will be around for a long time capitalizing on his name: the former presidential candidate, the one that mobilized more Republicans than ever in history. (Whether that is true or not it won't stop him from saying that.) He might claim the elections were rigged. (Whether that is true or not doesn't preoccupy him either. Truth is not his guiding principle. Name recognition is). He will make a defeat sound like a victory. And in the process sell his brand for heavy money.

In growing organizations leaders shape the country. In declining systems, the people deserve the leaders they get. The Trump phenomena is a manifestation of the state of disintegration of the U.S. society. I cannot imagine Trump would have even gotten to the first phase of candidacy in the 1950s. No chance.